Author: telboy2

Wellington • New Zealand International Film Festival

Screening dates: 24 Jul — 12 Aug 2015

Source: Wellington • New Zealand International Film Festival

A belated post on the NZIFF which is currently in full flow. Last weekend was a fil marathon for us; one on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday and even a film on Monday evening.

We started with Far from Men set in Algeria in 1954 at the beginnings of the independence fight. It is based on an Albert Camus book (that I have read in part!). It as a beautiful story of relationships and being an outsider in society with the actions of the colonialists and Arabs as the backdrop. The filming is beautiful. A good start.

In brief Wrinkles is a cartoon depiction of the vagaries of aging with the loss of health and self-control with increasing dementia. Good, thoughtful but inevitably black.

Amy is a well-known story and a documentary that has made some waves. Essentially a sad story, with the ending well known, of a talented but vulnerable woman, who makes mistakes but is offered no protection by those on whom she depends. Not a good advert for fathers or humanity in general maybe.

The Enemy Within as famously said by the ‘Iron Lady” (was she one?) is the miners viewpoint of the 1984 strike. It is important to be told or reminded of the circumstances of the strike, the power of the state and its allies and to see the way events unfolded and as I saw it, the errors of strategy on the part of the miners.

Pheonix tickled the satisfaction less than the others. Seems to be highly rated and enjoyed but lacks credibility in the storyline. Survivor from an extermination camp in WW2 has plastic surgery  and is unrecognisable by her husband when she comes back to their home city. A beautiful films as it recounts the new world and their new relationship but in my mind the implausibility always nags.

And today offers Banksy. A little bit different.

 

To use the cliché- A Greek Tragedy

d26cdee3-7b5b-4fcf-9a5f-424ed0637806-1020x695I listened to a podcast the other day that discussed the British (David Cameron’s) desire to renegotiate membership of the EU. The analogy used was going over to a neighbour to ask for a cup of sugar when their house was burning down.  I think the Guardian cartoon give the same message as the Greek debt and Eurozone crisis continues.

Samoan Speech

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Isaac has studied Samoan over the last 2 years of so and has done very well. So much so that he was the year 11 rep for a speech competition. He had to prepare the speech, talk for 5 minutes without notes. He is the first non-Samoan to participate. The other performers were better than him but he got a special mention, did very well anyway and was mentioned on Samoan radio. A star.

There is no Q in Samoan apparently which may explain the spelling error!

Greek financial crisis

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Despite the plethora of reporting it can be difficult to understand how this situation cannot be resolved.

At a simple level the Greek debt is huge and can never reasonably be repaid so forcing or expecting the country to do so, with inevitable worsening of the economy, seems futile. There is no solidarity with the Greek government within the EU and the financial masters expect their view to prevail despite its lack of evidence of effect and predicted consequences.

In the end it cannot end well I think.

Football World Cup

The football world cup as hit New Zealand and we have been part of the action. The U-20 world cup that is.

No representation from England of course.

Joe and I did go to see a couple of games a group game between Argentina who were at that point one of the favourites and Ghana. That was a good game with great skill on display. Ghana went 3-0 up and Argentina came back to 3-2 in the last ten minutes looking like they may take an unexpected point from the game. Ghana were the better team and played fast, running, attacking football. Some fine talent on display.

It came to pass that Argentina went out t this stage and Ghana in the round of sixteen.

We also watched the Wellington hosted quarter final between Senegal and Uzbekistan. Not such great quality and I wondered all through the game how these two had progressed. A turgid game  with a lower level of skill on display than the previous viewing. Senegal won deservedly but I cannot see them beating Brazil.

No more games in wellington. The semis are in Christchurch and  Auckland and the final in Auckland too. The crowds were not great; 5+ thousand for the first game and 10+ for the quarter-final, and the latter with lots of kids.

I don’t think the tournament has set alight the Kiwi public. Not that I have seen anyway.

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Roaring Forties – wellington : Comedy Festival

An alternative night out on a Friday. The first time in a few years that I have seen live comedy and almost a hark back to student life to see a comedian in a small venue. Almost back to Tooting, Balham or the Jongleurs in Clapham.

We have seen Ed on he telly in one place or other and so there was value in seeking out the live experience. A trip for 4; the older Quirkes went off to Hannahs. Again just to go to a small theatre made for a little enlightenment.

I enjoyed the evening-I laughed. Mrs Q rather a lot.

 

Maybe a prod to do more of the same